The coal mining photographs of C. William Horrell, taken across the
southern Illinois Coal Belt over a twenty-year period from 1966 to 1986,
are extraordinary examples of documentary photography--so stark and
striking that captions often seem superfluous.
Horrell's photographs capture the varied phenomena of twentieth-century
coal mining technology: the awesome scale of surface mining machines and
their impact on the land; massive machines forced into narrow
passageways with inches to spare as they carry coal from the face to
conveyer belts; and, more significant, the advent of continuous miners,
machines that can handle four previously separate processes and which
have been a fixture in underground or "deep" mines since the mid-1960s.
Horrell was also intrigued by the related activities of mining,
including coal's processing, cleaning, and transportation, as well as
the daily, behind-the-scenes operations that keep mines and miners
working. His photographs reflect the beauty of the commonplace--the
clothes of the miners, their dinner pails, and their tools--and reveal
the picturesque remnants of closed mines: the weathered boards of
company houses, the imposing iron beauty of an ancient tipple, and an
abandoned building against the lowering sky of an approaching storm.
Finally, his portraits of coal minersshow the strength, dignity, and
enduring spirit of the men and women who work the southern Illinois coal
mines.
